The Sea Garden (28 page)

‘I think he is,' she agrees. ‘He was telling me that one of the things he's doing is providing the seed capital for a group of young scientists who have found a cheaper way to make solar panels. To quote Oliver: “It's green, they're great, and we shall all make money!” He's insisted that they form a limited company and he has a seat on the board. He says it's his job to provide the seed capital and the inventor's job to make things grow.'

‘Sounds good to me.' Johnnie glances across at Sophie as he gently pulls Popps' ears, wondering whether to take a more personal direction. She catches his eye and smiles defensively, not ready yet for confidences.

‘Time for Popps' last outs,' she says casually.

‘I'll do it.' Johnnie takes the hint and encourages Popps down from the sofa, and they go out.

Sophie folds the sheets of her letter and tidies the drawing-room, piling the cushions together and putting the guard in front of the fire, and goes out to the kitchen. She guesses that Johnnie knows exactly what she is feeling but she can't bring herself to talk about those emotions just yet. She is still trying to form a plan that will enable her and Oliver to move forward without making any drastic changes to their lives. It is very difficult, with Oliver based in London, to allow the relationship to take the usual course of dating, and it would be so odd, now, to arrange to meet him at a restaurant, say, or even in a pub. It's as if they've already moved far beyond that – yet she hardly knows him. Now, with his connection to Guy's scheme and Johnnie's enthusiasm for the project, he's become part of the family and it's even more difficult to play it in a more normal way. She's glad that Johnnie hasn't questioned her or teased her; he approves of Oliver and he's on her side, and that's all that matters at the moment.

*   *   *

Johnnie strolls across the lawn. The air is icy and the moon's reflection swims clear and cold in the calm water of the river. Higher up the valley an owl hoots, a long wavering cry. He stands at the balustrade in the sea garden and stares towards the sea. He thinks about other Trehearnes who have stood here, waiting and watching, and he puts out a hand to Circe, whose skirt is smooth and slippery to his touch.

Turning, he glances up at Rowena's window as if he expects to see her light shining out as usual.

‘Goodnight, Mother,' he mutters and, calling to Popps, he goes back across the grass to the house.

*   *   *

When Sophie sees Oliver again she is seized with a most uncharacteristic fit of shyness.

‘Hi,' she says, opening the back door to him, leading the way into the kitchen. ‘Johnnie's in the Growlery getting on with the book but I was about to encourage him with coffee. Would you like some?'

He nods, and the amusement in his eyes suggests that he quite understands the reason for the shyness and isn't going to embarrass her by drawing attention to it.

‘How is Johnnie?' he asks. ‘Rowena's death can't exactly have been a shock but he must be feeling it.'

‘He does. We both do,' she answers as she fills the kettle. ‘She was such a major presence. It feels really weird without her around somewhere. I think he's working on the book to take his mind off it.'

‘Guy's scheme will take his mind off it,' Oliver assures her. He puts a laptop case on the table. ‘Johnnie and I have been exchanging emails but I think he forgets that I'm not a sailing man so I need some translation. But it's looking good and I like Johnnie's ideas of diversification. Old Unk, the chap who took me into his business, used to say that to be successful you have to have a widget.'

‘A widget?'

‘Mmm. The crucial thing around which the business is built. In this case it'll be the boat itself, of course, but the more things we can think of to utilize the widget the better it'll be. Johnnie says that he and Fred are Instructor Members for the RYA, which he seems to think will be a positive asset. What exactly does it mean?'

Sophie's shyness has quite disappeared now. She leans with her back to the Aga rail and crosses her arms.

‘It means that both of them are qualified to teach people to sail, which might be very useful to Guy, although I'm sure he'll want to become qualified, too.'

‘Hang on. Qualified by whom? By this RYA?'

‘Yes. It used to be called the Royal Yachting Association but they call themselves the RYA now. They're the body appointed by the Government to issue certificates of competence and teaching certificates. If you weren't such a landlubber you'd know that they're very highly respected and their certificates are recognized all over the world. Johnnie could use
Alice,
and Fred could use his boat, come to that. It's something they've often done as volunteers but at their ages they wouldn't want to take the responsibility of trying to make it work commercially. You and Guy running the show will give them the chance to become much more involved, won't it?'

‘It sounds like it, but I'd have to check it all out properly. Insurance and so on. And Johnnie would be happy with all these people passing through? He's really thought about it?'

‘He'd be in his element.' She turns round as the kettle begins to boil and pushes it to one side while she puts coffee in the percolator. ‘He's at his best when the family comes to stay but, now that the children are older, visits have to be geared to the school holidays, so it's not like it used to be when they were little and everyone was coming and going a lot. I think with Rowena gone he's going to notice the draught and this would be a perfect solution.'

‘And you?'

‘Well, I'd love it, too,' she begins, and then hesitates. She's implying that she'll be staying here, that they won't be together, and she feels confused. She makes the coffee, tells herself not to be a fool, and turns to look directly at him. ‘I want us to be together somehow,' she says firmly. ‘At least, I think I do. But I still can't see how it is to be done.'

He comes round the table to her, puts his arms around her and kisses her. She holds on to him tightly and then relaxes.

‘We'll sort it out,' he says lightly, letting her go, and at once she is full of happiness and relief. He seems to understand her so well, and she feels that she can trust him. She senses that he will allow their love to develop at its own pace, embracing the people around them and the events that are taking place. There will be no dramatics, no upheavals, and she is profoundly grateful. There's been a sense of sadness and emptiness since the funeral, but Oliver brings the prospect of change and purpose that is all a part of this exciting new love growing between them.

‘Go and say hello to Johnnie,' she says, ‘and tell him coffee's ready. And then you can show us how far you've got.'

*   *   *

‘You'll stay with us, won't you?' asks Johnnie. ‘While we're getting all this sorted out? Have you got a bic for Popps, Sophie? She's been such a good girl all morning.'

He pours the coffee, pushes a mug towards Oliver, and sits down at the table.

‘Well, that would be very kind.' Oliver looks pleased. ‘I'd like that.'

‘I think we all would,' says Johnnie with a sly glance at Sophie, who is giving Popps a biscuit. ‘Tom and Cass won't think we're poaching?'

‘You're joking. My father has quite enough on his plate with Gemma staying with them.'

‘But old Tom must be absolutely thrilled with this scheme, isn't he? Of course, he was never a great sailing man but, even so, if it gets Guy and his family back home again it's got to be good news.'

‘I'm sure he'll be very pleased,' agrees Oliver, ‘as long as the scheme is viable. It's got to pay its way.'

‘It would be wonderful,' says Johnnie, ‘getting another boat or two out on the river. People going to sea, learning to sail. Wouldn't it make a great postscript to my book? Another generation working the river. Young Will growing up and being a part of it. And Guy's boys, too. What could be better than to be part of such an enterprise?'

Oliver smiles at Johnnie's infectious enthusiasm and wishes Guy was there to witness it.

‘It's sad,' he says politely, ‘that your mother won't be here to see it all happening.'

Johnnie looks thoughtful. ‘Probably just as well,' he says with devastating honesty. ‘To be perfectly frank, my mother never quite trusted anybody's ideas but her own. We'd have had the devil of a job getting her to see the possibilities. She was very protective about the old place and I think she'd have been nervous about one or two aspects of our scheme. Not surprising at her age but, well, as it happens, it's worked out for the best. She liked things done her way but now it's time for change.'

‘“The generations of living things pass in a short time,”' quotes Oliver idly, ‘“and like runners hand on the torch of life.”'

‘Yes,' says Johnnie, after a moment, ‘that's exactly it. Who said that?'

‘Lucretius,' says Oliver.

‘'Course it was,' says Johnnie. ‘So what have you got to show us on that smart-looking laptop? Let's have some more coffee and get down to work.'

*   *   *

‘It can work,' Oliver says to Sophie. Johnnie, having studied spread sheets and specifications of various classic boats, has gone back to the Growlery taking Popps with him. ‘I don't mean Guy's scheme. I mean us. We don't have to be conventional to make a relationship work.'

‘I've been thinking about it,' admits Sophie. ‘I even wondered whether we could have our own quarters in the sail loft, but Johnnie has plans for it being a kind of clubhouse for beginners to learn the rudiments of sailing before they actually take to the water.'

‘A kind of perpetual
Swallows and Amazons,
' murmurs Oliver. ‘I can just see it. Dear old Guy must think he's died and gone to heaven.'

‘What luck that you brought him here,' agrees Sophie. ‘It's certainly a marriage made in heaven.'

‘D'you mean us?'

‘No. Well, yes, in a way,' says Sophie, flustered. ‘I just meant that putting Johnnie and Guy together was a miracle.'

‘All thanks to Jess, really. She started it all.' Oliver thinks about the photograph. ‘Something's bothering Jess, but I don't know what it is. Do you?'

Sophie shakes her head. ‘I knew there was something going on right from the beginning when Johnnie saw Kate in the Bedford and she told him about Jess winning the Award and about her being Juliet and Mike's granddaughter. Rowena began to be really quite odd after that. Very preoccupied and secretive, and getting all those photographs together of the parties in the sea garden, and of the boys when they were young at Dartmouth. You remember I told you, Johnnie said he thought that Rowena was just enjoying the opportunity to talk about Al.'

‘But you didn't believe that was true?'

‘Not entirely. I thought it might be more to do with the fact that Al died in a drowning accident and I wondered if there might have been something going on. You know?'

‘What sort of thing?'

‘Well, it sounds a bit fanciful but look at it like this. Al and Mike are bosom pals and they both fancy Juliet but it's Mike who gets her. Supposing there's a bit more to it than that and they have a row about it when they're out sailing and Al goes over the side?'

Oliver raises his eyebrows. ‘Goodness.'

‘Well, it sounds very dramatic,' says Sophie defensively, ‘but I just know that there was something going on.'

‘But if Rowena suspected that Mike killed her son, would she be particularly keen to meet Jess?'

‘I can't quite see
any
reason why Rowena was so anxious to meet Jess,' says Sophie frankly. ‘That's the whole point. She's a sweet kid – I like her – but I still say it's a bit odd. And now Rowena's dead.'

There's a silence.

‘So do you wish Jess wasn't coming back?' asks Oliver.

‘Good grief, no,' says Sophie. ‘I told you, I really like her. And I feel terribly sorry for her. She was so thrilled to be here, where everything happened, and then Rowena had that attack and poor old Jess was really upset. And then, of course, she was there when Rowena died.'

‘Yes. Actually, I was surprised that Jess was so keen to come back.'

‘So was I. But I'm glad, too. Perhaps we'll find out what this mystery is.'

‘You definitely believe that there's a mystery?'

‘Yes,' says Sophie firmly. ‘I do. I thought she might have said something to you.'

‘I know less than nothing about it all,' says Oliver, remembering his promise. ‘Apart from my old pa being a member of the group way back when. I'm not much help, I'm afraid. Perhaps, now that Rowena is dead, Jess might be a bit more forthcoming.'

‘She might be. Anyway, let's forget all that for moment. I'm glad Johnnie's asked you to stay. Have you got any stuff with you?'

‘I have. I drove down from London, left very early and came straight here, so my bag's in the car.'

‘Very convenient. Let's go and sort out a room for you. Are you sure you'll be happy in this rather communal atmosphere? Jess will be in and out, and Fred, when he gets back.'

‘I rather like it. My happiest time was when Unk and I were getting the business up and running. A friend of ours had written a very successful series of books for children called
Percy the Parrot,
which was made into an iconic TV programme. I had this idea of making a soft, cuddly Percy the Parrot toy and it just took off. There were T-shirts and mugs and all sorts of spin-offs. Even Unk was astounded by its success. His niece and her daughter and our designer, we all practically lived together, bouncing ideas off each other, making things buzz. As it grew and became successful we took on more and more staff and started to delegate, so that all that fun side of it became less and less necessary. The original team gradually split up after a few years and then Unk died. It had got too big, too impersonal, and that's when I got out.'